Blissful Death
by Ehval
Summary: "Dying: It would free us from both this world, and the real one. Besides, It's not like we have a chance of clearing this death game."
1. Chapter 1: Patience

**Hey guys, new Sword Art Online story here. Big thanks to my beta-reader MedievalHarpy! I don't know what I'd do without you, as this story turned ten times better with your help. Anyway, enjoy. Review if you feel like it.**

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I glanced up at the sky, closed my eyes, and groaned. After a couple seconds, I looked around at the various other people in line. This was the second day I was in line for the first VRMMORPG: Sword Art Online.

My attention was caught by a boy behind me in the line, as he was talking loudly into a phone.

"No! Mom, tomorrow at ten, that's when you pick me up!" I turned back toward the store, that's when I'd be leaving as well, as that was when the game was released.

I was eager to play the game like everyone else, but I hadn't expected the waiting to be this bad. I shivered, and shrugged my shoulders to bring the collar of my jacket closer to my neck. It was the fifth of November, but it was already snowing. I pulled out my phone from my pocket and checked the time. It was nine forty, just a little more than twelve hours to go.

Luckily, I was the seventh person in line, so I wouldn't have to wait much after the game was officially released. I observed the other people in line again; many of them sported dark bags under their eyes, and a droop to their composure.

I had decided to come alone to the release, considering I didn't have too many friends to begin with. I had regretted that decision within the first five hours of waiting in line.

Many people attempted to befriend me, but being my introverted self, I pushed them away. I did however, become acquainted with the person in front of me. I yawned, and rubbed my eyes.

"You tired?" I heard someone ask.

I looked to my left and noticed a girl leaning against the wall.

"Yeah," I replied in a quiet tone. I had trouble maintaining eye contact, especially with girls. I looked at the concrete pavement, wondering if she was still looking my direction. I glanced from the corner of my eye and she met my gaze with smile. I immediately bobbed my stare toward the sky.

_Great, she probably thinks I'm a creeper_, I thought. I decided to take a chance and once again, I looked from the corner of my eye. She was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. She was probably tired as well.

I squinted and studied her. She had a calm and relaxed look on her face, it suited her. I continued to examine her dark brown hair, and the little smile she adorned. After a couple moments, I realized what I was doing and raised a hand to my face in embarrassment.

"Hey, I'm going to sleep for a bit, mind watching my place in line?" she asked with a warm smile.

I was too embarrassed to say anything, so I just nodded.

She smiled and unrolled her sleeping bag. She laid it out on the concrete and proceeded to lie down.

It had finally stopped snowing, but it was still rather cold. I noticed an employee come out from inside the store.

"Hey guys, since the game is going to be released tomorrow and you're all patiently waiting in line, we decided we should give you all a little gift!" he exclaimed with excitement.

Suddenly, four more employees came out from inside the store and started handing out books. I eventually received one as well.

The cover read _'A Beginners Guide to Sword Art Online_.' It was a rather thick book, but deciding I had nothing else to do, I sat down and started to read it.

It talked about a lot of stuff, including sword skills, houses, marriage, guilds, and everything else in-between. I pulled out my phone to check the time again; it was already midnight. I spent quite a while reading it.

I looked to my left at the girl that lay there. I hadn't even gotten her name, not that it really mattered. I shook my head and yawned. A girl as pretty as her probably had a boyfriend. I continued staring at her, until she opened her eyes.

I was pretty sure my face was a tomato now, because she gave me a weird look as soon as she saw me. I mean, it wasn't everyday you had someone watch you sleep, right?

I quickly looked away, feeling my face burn. Well, at least the coldness wasn't a problem anymore.

I could hear her put away her sleeping bag. I then remembered, "The employees handed out a guide earlier, it's right there," I said while gesturing towards her feet where the book laid.

She looked down and noticed the book, "Oh, sweet! Thanks, um, what was your name?"

"Tanner," I replied. I hated my name, mostly because of how ironic it was. I was the farthest thing from tan, as I was extremely pale. Not to mention I was an American living in Japan, making my name extremely strange too.

"You're not even close to tan though," she said laughing, as if she'd read my mind. "By the way, I'm Akari."

"Nice to meet you Akari," I said while extending my hand.

"We kind of already met don't you think? We just didn't know each-other's names," she said while she accepted my awkward handshake. Her hand was soft, and I didn't want to let go, and did so regrettably.

"Where are you from?" she asked while she sat down next to me.

I kept looking down and replied, "I'm from America."

"Well, anyone could've guessed that after looking at your blue eyes, not to mention that not a lot Japanese people are as tall as you," she said with a smile. "Where in America?"

How was I this stupid? It was obvious I wasn't Japanese. I ran my hand through my light brown hair and made a mental note to not be so idiotic.

"Seattle, Washington," I said awkwardly.

"Wow, Seattle? I heard it rains a lot there, right?" she asked. I couldn't tell if she looked interested, since I was still kind of embarrassed to look at her, but her voice actually seemed curious.

"It does actually. It's always gray too, so being in Japan is a nice change," I replied. I turned to look at her, and her dark brown eyes met mine.

"What brings you to Japan, if you don't mind me asking?" she asked curiously.

"I'm here studying abroad, I've been here for about three years." I replied, "I'm actually in my last year of high school," I was surprised that I didn't feel as nervous anymore. Maybe it was her warm smile, or the welcoming look of her eyes, I wasn't sure.

"You ditched school to come to the release, right?" she asked with a grin.

"No, I'm 'sick' and can't go," I replied sarcastically while making air quotes.

After that, we hit it off. We talked throughout most of the night; even the cold wasn't a problem. After a couple hours, I checked the time. It was half past five, and I could see a slight hue of red and orange over the horizon.

I yawned and felt something on my shoulder. I looked to my left and noticed Akari was leaning against me, not to mention she was asleep. I screamed inside my head, and would've been jumping for joy except for two things: I was too tired and I didn't want to wake her up.

I leaned my head back against the cold wall and relaxed. I fell asleep instantly. Maybe waiting wasn't so bad.

After what seemed to be seconds, I woke up to Akari staring at me. Wow, was this what she had to woken up to when I was staring at her?

"Wake up, the game is going to be released in five minutes!" she exclaimed while nudging my shoulder.

I pulled my phone out, and sure enough, it was five minutes before ten. I got up to stretch, and rubbed my eyes. I noticed strains of hair on my jacket, and I smiled.

"Hey, what's your username going to be?" Akari asked me with excitement.

"I'm not sure actually, I'll probably think of something later," I replied tiredly.

"How about Tan-Tan?" she suggested.

"Sounds good, I'll use that," I said. I was still half-asleep to fully pay attention.

"I'll make sure to look for you!" she said eagerly.

I nodded, my eyelids drooping. How she could be full of energy amazed me. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. Just one more minute, and the game would be released.

After a moment, I heard the doors to the game store open. The line moved rather fast since we had to pre-pay the six thousand yen before we got in line, so all we had to do was show our receipt to receive a copy. Eventually, Akari and I got our respective copies.

"See you in a bit?" Akari asked me as we left the store.

I nodded, and gave her another awkward handshake. I then went to my bike, and undid the lock. I stood there for a moment wondering if I really had feelings for her. I had barely even met her, so I doubted it. I eventually just got on my bike and made my way back to my apartment.

The ride back was relatively boring, just extremely cold. It was the only reason I didn't fall asleep while riding my bike.

Once outside the high-rise complex, I put my bike outside and put the lock on it. I walked in the main lobby slouched over; obviously tired from the three days I spent waiting.

"Long day?" asked the front desk attendant who had her usual brown ponytail and red blazer, as was the norm for the front office attendants.

"Oh, long three days actually. You work mornings now Momo?" I asked half-heartedly.

"I'm covering for someone actually," she replied while writing something down.

I was about to go up the elevator until she called me, "Hey Tanner, your mom called. She said to tell you to ask when the graduation ceremony will be taking place."

"Will do," I replied while glancing back.

I pushed the button to take me to the twelfth floor. I glanced down at my black shoes. They were dirty from being out so long. I remembered I hadn't even showered during those three days. Wait, I also talked to Akari like this? I started hitting my head against the elevator wall. How could I be so gross? I groaned until the elevator door opened.

There was an elderly man staring at me, like I was a sociopath of sorts. I smiled weakly and walked quickly out of the elevator. I went up to my room, punched in my PIN number, and entered my apartment.

I put the copy of Sword Art Online on my dresser. I pulled my NerveGear out from a cabinet. I had bought it a couple weeks ago, when I pre-ordered Sword Art Online. I got it set up and laid the helmet on the bed.

I checked the time; it was eleven thirty. The servers wouldn't be up for another two hours so I still had time to relax.

After taking a shower and eating noodles, -since I was too lazy to make anything more labor inducing- I decided to keep reading the book that was handed out in order to familiarize myself better with the game. After a while, I got bored and glanced out my windows. I had a beautiful view to say the least, especially since I lived in downtown Osaka.

I wondered what Akari was doing right now. I leaned back and felt the smooth wooden back of my chair.

It was nice having my own place in Japan. My family was rather well off, so I had more opportunities than most. I was still a little sad that this would be my final year here, and that then I would have to move back with my mom.

I did miss home though, especially since I didn't have to buy my own groceries back then. I sighed and continued to look out towards the city. It wasn't as gray here, but I could see the pollution obscuring the sky. I guess you could say I was homesick.

I snapped out of my thoughts and checked the time once more. It was twelve thirty. I put the book down on my dresser and walked over to my bed.

I got the NerveGear and put it on. It was somewhat cold, but that didn't bother me. I proceeded to lie down on my bed, closed my eyes, and with a smile said, "Link start!"

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**I might turn this story into a 'Submit Your Own OC' story, but I'm not fully sure. Anyway, thanks for reading! New chapter will be out soon.**


	2. Chapter 2: Beginnings

**So I ended up taking down this original chapter and revising it, fixing mistakes and adding little details. Should continue it from now on. Enjoy! Review if you feel like it.**

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_Calibration required._

The words flashed at me as I groaned and got up to do this so called 'calibration.'

_Please touch shoulders._

"Yeah yeah, shut it already," I muttered and followed its orders.

After a couple painfully annoying minutes, I was finally finished.

"Okay, let's try this again," I said. "Link start!"

This time, a barrage of colors entered my view. It then checked to see if my senses were all calibrated properly. I held my breath, hoping it wouldn't require another one. After it said I was good to go, I finally released my breath.

I read what was now in my view. It asked me for a username and password.

"Create new account," I said. After doing so, it asked me for my desired username.

_What was that name Akari suggested? Tanji? Tuna? Wait, no, it was Tan-Tan._

That name didn't really suit me, so I simply went with Tanji. This was a pain since I didn't have a keyboard to type it out, so I had to say every single letter.

Okay, now for the password. _Eh, something simple. Tuna123? Yeah, Tuna123._

After entering my very idiotic and simple password, I went to the avatar customization screen.

_God, I always delve too deep into these things every time I play RPGs. I better keep this simple, like my password._

After selecting a rather long black hairstyle, and selecting a blue long sleeve shirt as my default armor, a sign that read _Welcome to Sword Art Online_ greeted me.

After a couple moments, I was thrown into the game head-on. I spawned in a plaza of sorts, with people all around me, their footsteps sharp on the marble pavement.

The world around me seemed real, even the food in the NPC stands looked like it was shockingly real. I looked down at my hands seeing that they looked immaculate as well, I still had trouble grasping the fact that I was literally inside a game. How someone could develop such a complex technology left me dumfounded. A player spawning next to me snapped me out of my thoughts, and I decided to pay attention to my surroundings.

Remembering the instructions from the guide I read, I swiped my right arm down. Doing so caused my menu to appear. I looked at my inventory and noticed I had an iron short sword. I equipped the blade and it appeared on my hip. The sword was dirty, and had some dents and chips, normally I would complain, but this was starting gear after all. I sheathed the blade, and made my way around town.

It was quite strange seeing such a variety of people here. What disturbed me the most was the presence of little kids. How they were able to get a copy shocked me. Then again, there were always kids playing violent games nowadays.

I listened to the chatter of other players as I walked along the various roads. I could see the sun rising ever so higher in the sky, and could feel the heat of its rays. This really was a full-dive game. Even the slightest breeze could be felt.

"Hey, you want to go slay some boars? I heard they drop a lot of XP," said one.

"Yeah, just let me log out and tell Jeff to get on so he can join us," said the other while opening his menu. "Wait, where's the log out button?"

"What do you mean? It should be at the bottom," he replied while opening his menu seeming annoyed that his friend seemingly wasn't smart enough to find it himself, "What the hell, it really isn't here!" he said, frantically swiping his finger around.

I opened my menu to see if it was true, and sure enough, the log out button wasn't there. I stood still, and so did everyone else as the news spread. There wasn't any log out button, which meant we were trapped here, at least for the moment.

_It's probably just a glitch, perhaps one of the servers overloaded because there's so many people on,_ I wondered.

After a couple moments, I felt a tingling sensation in my body, I was being teleported.

"This is just great," I muttered, "I knew I should've waited 'till tomorrow to play."

After teleporting, I looked around and noticed I was back in the giant plaza, and there were thousands of people around.

_Perhaps this is the opening ceremony or something,_ I thought.

"Tanner?" asked a familiar voice.

I looked to my left, and noticed a girl walking toward me. She had medium length black hair and wore a black tunic, white pants and boots.

I decided to take a wild guess and answered, "Yes, Akari?"

"Ha! I knew it was you!" She said.

I extended my hand for a handshake, but I felt her almost tackle me with a hug. She laughed at my startled expression. I was sure that my face was bright red, and hoped it wasn't as red as it felt.

"So, did you hear about the log out buttons?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, "pretty weird don't you think?" she nodded, "It could just be a glitch or something but-" I stopped as the sky turned a blood red. A hexagon bearing the word _warning_ floated in the center. It started to multiply, until the whole sky was covered. What was even more disturbing was the fact that what looked like blood had started to leak from the top.

I felt something on my arm and noticed Akari had moved closer.

"Don't worry, it's just a game," I said, noticing the tinge of fear in her eyes.

"Attention players," said a voice, "I welcome you to my world."

I looked up towards the sky to see a gigantic figure in a red cloak, I assumed he had been the one to welcome us.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world," he continued.

I kept staring at the hooded figure, wondering if he truly was the creator of SAO, software makers didn't usually show up in their own games.

"I am sure that most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus: the log out button. Let me assure you that this is not a defect in the game." A few gasps of shock spread through the crowd. "I repeat, this is not a defect," he said with his arms wide.

I could hear many players starting to panic, with some even crying. Some were jeering at the figure, or laughing as if it was a joke.

"This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be," he said, "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the Nervegear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the Nervegear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull. Destroying your brain and ending your life," he continued his speech.

As serious as the situation was, I just wanted to bash my head into a wall for eternity. If I hadn't put on the Nervegear again, I wouldn't be in this rut.

"Despite my warnings, the family and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the Nervegear, an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has two-hundred-thirteen less players than when it began. They have been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

"Why should we believe anything you're saying?" I heard someone shout from amongst the crowd.

He had a point; this could just be a big joke. Nothing more than just a sick joke to scare us.

Suddenly, floating screens appeared around the hooded figure, and I recognized that many of them as news media channels.

"As you can see, international media outlets have 'round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths." He said, "At this point, it's safe to assume that the likelihood of a Nervegear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game."

At this point, many players were left speechless. Many were crying now, with some even hugging their knees. I couldn't blame them, given the circumstances we were all in, if, of course this was for real.

"It is important to remember the following: there is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever. And the Nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There is only one-way to escape now: you must clear the game." His words echoed through the plaza, and almost seemed to repeat themselves, as they bounced off the walls. "Right now, you are gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one-hundred and you will clear the game."

I remember reading online that the beta-testers only ever managed to make it to floor ten, and that was with multiple re-spawns. How he thought we could clear all the floors was beyond me.

Maybe this was just a game where in the end; we were all destined to die. Where we would have hope of clearing it, only to fail at the very end.

"Last but not least, I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look," he finished.

Akari and I opened our menus and found what he was talking about: a mirror. We selected it and the mirror materialized in our hands.

I looked at the reflection, with the long black hair I had chosen and my natural blue eyes reflecting back.

I once again felt a tingling sensation with light engulfing me, but instead of being teleported, nothing happened. The light left as quickly as it came.

"Tanner?" Akari asked.

"Yeah?" I turned to look at her.

I was shocked to see that instead of her avatar, which had black hair and blue eyes, it was now the real Akari, with her dark brown hair and eyes

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I pulled my hair in front of my eyes and noticed it was back to its usual length and light brown color. _So this was what the stupid calibration was for._

"Right now, you are probably wondering, 'Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and Nervegear do this?' Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see; I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online." He said, "Players, I wish you the best of luck," he ended, finally finishing his speech.

He started to disappear and soon, he was completely gone. The sky returned back to its original color and no one said a word. No one even breathed.

Suddenly, a piercing scream could be heard. Mass hysteria broke out, with players yelling and pushing each other.

Before things got out of hand, I grabbed Akari's wrist and pulled her with me. We ran out of the plaza into an empty road with NPC shops. I checked my menu again, the log out button was still absent. Perhaps this really was for real.

"What should we do Tanner?" Akari asked me with tears budding in her eyes.

"Well, there isn't much we can do, except to try to clear the game," I replied while staring at the marble road.

"C'mon," I said, quietly grabbing her wrist again.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"The boar fields, I heard they drop a lot of XP," I said, if we were going to be stuck in here, then we'd might as well get a head start on those still panicking in the plaza.

We made our way west towards the field, and upon arrival, we noticed a couple other players were already here.

"You ready?" I asked as I saw a boar.

She didn't say anything, but nodded.

I unsheathed my rusty iron sword, while Akari pulled out a mace. How she got ahold of one, I wasn't sure, but that was a question for another time as the boar started to charge at us.

"I'll distract it, and you attack it from behind," I said.

Not even looking back to see if she heard me, I ran up to the boar head-on and used my sword to block its charge. We were at a stalemate, with the boar pushing back on me, I was surprised when it took quite an effort to push it back with my sword.

Akari appeared behind the creature and landed a direct hit on its back. Much to my dismay, it barely did any damage.

The boar turned around, and with anger in its eyes, it head-butted Akari. Her health bar dropped, it was brought down to the yellow zone by a single charge!

She was on the ground now, and her mace had fallen out of her grip.

I remembered reading about sword skills, and tried to remember how to do one. I swiped my sword in a circular motion and I could suddenly feel my body moving on its own, with my sword turned a bright yellow.

I ran forward at an unimaginable speed until I sliced directly through the boar.

I looked at the Congratulations screen that appeared. It said we had gained thirty XP, thirty Col, and just one item.

I had control of my body again, and felt a nudge on my shoulder. I looked to my right and saw Akari was staring at me.

"How did you do that?" she asked amazed.

"That was a sword skill, they talked about in the book they gave out back at the release" I replied.

She looked down at the grass, seemingly embarrassed.

"You did read it, right?" I asked with my eyebrow arched.

"Well, a little bit," she said.

I interpreted that as her way of saying that she basically didn't even touch the book.

I sighed and opened up my menu to see the item the boar dropped. It was boar meat. I selected it and it appeared in my hands.

"What're we supposed to do with this?" I said while waving the steak looking substance in front of her face.

"Eat it?" she replied uncertain.

I sighed, if I had known we were going to be stuck in this game, I would've read the whole book.

I opened my menu again to look at my stats. I stayed quiet with my mouth open after looking at them.

"What's wrong?" Akari asked me.

"Why the hell do we need five-hundred XP to get to level two?" I asked.

This game really was impossible. _Might as well just let a boar kill me now._

I opened my menu once more, it was almost one. We still had a lot of time before dark, so that meant more XP grinding.

"So how did you do that sword skill?" I heard Akari ask me.

"Well, I just did a circular motion with my sword. I'm sure there are different ones for maces though," I answered, "Wait, how did you even get a mace in the first place?"

"I'm not sure, I just started with it," she said.

She tried doing a sword skill with her mace, but the circular motion didn't activate it. She started flailing her arm in all directions until her mace turned a bright green and she was lunged several yards.

I could hear that she made contact with something, and I ran towards her. What I saw wasn't a good thing.

She had attacked another player accidentally, and I noticed the once green sprite above her head was now orange. I helped her up, and saw the other player was still on the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" apologized a panicking Akari.

"Whaaa?" muttered the other player.

He had spiky black hair, with a white long-sleeve shirt and black pants along with brown boots. His blue eyes seemed more annoyed than anything. His stature seemed rather tall for a Japanese person, being almost as tall as me.

"It's fine," he said, "Whatever".

"What's your name?" Akari asked him.

"Jin," he said.

He got up, "And both of you are?"

"I'm Akari," she said.

"You used your real name as your username?" I asked.

"I couldn't think of anything else," she said and punched me in the arm.

"Anyway, I'm Tanji," I said while extending my hand.

He accepted my handshake, albeit very lazily.

"You didn't use the name I gave you?" Akari asked.

I raised my hands defensively and said, "I didn't really think it would suit me, Tan-Tan isn't really the best name for the hero type" I said, laughing nervously.

This soon escalated into her running after me, and before we knew it, we were running in a circle around Jin.

After a couple moments, he spoke up, "Well, this has been fun. See you guys around."

"Wait, you should join our guild," Akari said.

"We have a guild?" I asked.

"We can make one," she replied.

"Sure, I guess." Jin said, "It's not like I have anyone else to hang with," he said tiredly.

"Okay, we can get all those details sorted out later, but for now, we should focus on leveling up," I suggested while turning to look at the boars in front of us.

"No big deal, just seventeen more boars to beat," Akari said with a sarcastic smile.

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**Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more!**


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